Characters (in order of appearance):
Woodrow Wilson...........Milton Bradley
Ida Tarbell.....................Kristina Forsman
Cornelius Vanderbilt......Christopher Korte
Carrie Chapman Catt.....Sabah Islam
Robert La Follette..........Conor Hamill
Setting: In the courthouse, Tarbell is on trial for exposure of Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad industry Wilson (judge): Today I have taken special interest in the case of Tarbell V Vanderbilt. I see here in my case notes that you Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt are accusing Ms. Ida Tarbell of brazenly exposing Vanderbilt's corporate tactics. Tarbell, will you please open with your statement. Tarbell (on trial): You, Vanderbilt, have always been unfair, charging the common man more than you do the industrial leaders on the railroad rates. I have personally witnessed this happen to my father back in 1872 when shipping rates were doubled taking money away that my father was making. Rockefeller ruined my father and you are doing the same thing to other people now. I am determined to expose the corruption of your railroads. Others may believe that I am blowing this out of proportion, however, in truth; I am one of the few reformers focused upon important issues. Unlike other "muckrakers" like Upton Sinclair who care about the "meat-packing industry," I am concerned with economic matters affecting the entire country. Vanderbilt (prosecutor): The railroad industry is my business. I built the industry from the ground up, investing all my effort into the corporation. What I chose to charge for my rates, and how I decide to run my corporation are completely, 100% my business. You "exposing" my tactics is a blatant demonstration of childish immaturity. Stay focused upon your own goals, and stop worrying about my industry. I choose to charge industrial leaders less due to the fact that they are a benefit to my business. My strategy to charge average men less than I do prominent individuals, aids my industry. And quite honestly, at the end of the day, that is what every knowledgeable, informed, intelligent businessman would look to do. Tarbell: Watching my father deal with the rising rates with the railroads in the region which brought oil to the market made me realize that it's not all about the business that you're are making. It is my goal to expose the corruption found in companies like yours. In my book The History of the Standard Oil Company I exposed the methods of monopoly in the Standard Oil Company and led to its eventual breakup. Your tactics and goals are the same as those of Rockefeller and you need to be taken down. By exposing Rockefeller I helped lead to the downfall of him and I will do the same to you. Honest hardworking people like my father suffered because of Rockefeller and you are doing the same to the same kind of people now. Vanderbilt: Though people may believe I'm much worse than Rockefeller because he contributed large sums of money to charities and institutions like the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller University, I am, in the end, looking out for myself and my industry, as intelligent business owners do. I will do what is best for my particular business, and I will do whatever it takes to keep my business running. "Law! What do I care about the law? Ain't I got the power?" Tarbell: I myself was very successful with the writing of my book The History of the Standard Oil Company. I got started in my writing career after graduating as the only woman in my class from Allegheny College. I worked for Chautauqua Assembly Herald and later continued my work in France researching and writing about Madame Manon Philpon de Roland when I was asked by Samuel McClure to come work for McClure's Magazine. This is where I first got started working on The History of the Standard Oil Company. As I stated in my book, "There is no man more dangerous, in a position of power, than he who refuses to accept as a working truth the idea that all man does should make for the rightness and soundness, that even the fixing of a tariff rate must be normal." This applies to you Vanderbilt and your outrageous and unfair rates on the railroads. Wilson: If it were my decision now Cornelius, you would be locked up for life for disregarding natural human rights as a worker and cheating the country's economy out of the competitive atmosphere. For as i stated previously stated in my book, The New Freedom, “If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it. The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” But before I make my decision, i want to here from our fine jury, made up of only Carrie Chapman Catt and Robert M La Follette. Catt (to Follette-part of the jury): Both perspectives are clearly understandable. Tarbell is upset due to Vanderbilt's rates which favor industrial leaders like Carnegie and Rockefeller, while stripping money and justice of the average man. Follette (to Catt-part of the jury): Then you're siding with Tarbell? Catt (to Follette): With experiences I've gained from the National American Woman Suffrage Association, I understand the difficulties encountered by an individual when they are focused on achieving change. I mean, after all, I've spent twenty-five years fighting for an amendment to the Constitution, granting women suffrage. Though Vanderbilt believes so, I do not believe Tarbell's efforts for reform are that absurd. By exposing Vanderbilt's unfair tactics, she is simply bringing truth to light. I, like Tarbell, simply want my ideas to be heard, and as a pacifist, I personally chose to explore women's labor and political issues through my column "The Woman's World" in the Mason City Republican. Follette (to Catt): So you've spent time as a writer, then? Catt (to Follette): Yes, but shortly after writing in the Mason City Republican, I decided to move to San Francisco where I was inspired to become a public lecturer. I then moved back to Iowa, becoming head of the suffrage area of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. However, inevitably, the organization began to split, and in 1889 I became secretary of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association. The next year, I was chosen a delegate and speaker at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. My efforts finally paid off when Colorado boldly became the first state, by vote, to grant women's suffrage in 1893. Follette (to Catt): Wow, I must admit, that is quite impressive Mrs. Catt. I also understand why Vanderbilt is so upset, but his tactics are completely in violation of what this country stands for. "Today the business once transacted by individuals in every community is in the control of corporations, and many of the men who once conducted an independent business are gathered into the organization, and all personal identity and all individualities lost..." Catt (to Follette): Exactly, I agree. By charging the common man higher, unfair rates, we are undermining exactly the democratic standards of liberty and justice to all, that this country was built upon. "Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchasable voice in government." Catt (to Follette, getting carried away): I do also understand the difference between a respectful reformist and a barbaric, vulgar reformist. In my efforts for reform, I am a complete pacifist, going to great extents to maintain peace. However, other suffragists, like Alice Paul, take extremely radical approaches by forming new organizations like the National Woman's Party who utilized unrefined tactics such as picketing, suffrage watch fires, and even hunger strikes, hoping to gain women's suffrage, state by state. By adopting such radical tactics, Paul simply alienated the public and caused the suffragist movement more harm than she did it benefit. Compared to Paul, I focused on congressional passage of an amendment for the right to vote. By concentrating on the federal government and pushing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, instead of slowly gaining favor state by state, my efforts are, quite evidently, much more effective. Follette (to Catt): Yes, I see how you differ from Paul, a reformer in your area. However, I am similar to Theodore Roosevelt in that his reforms were all done on the political level. It is plain to see that politics are more widely appreciated, for whatever viewpoints that politician holds. For that reason, I, like Roosevelt, a politician, appeal to the public about my view and persuade them to see what is truly right. By using my political standpoints, as governor, as senator, the district attorney, and even as a presidential candidate for the progressive reform party, I was able to send out my message clearly and efficiently. As county district attorney of Wisconsin from 1901-1906, and as part of the United States Senate for eighteen years, I looked to sponsor bills that focused upon restriction of the railroad companies. In addition, during that time, I became founder of the La Follette's Weekly to broaden my reform movement and demonstrate my extreme Republican opposition to William Howard Taft's policies which encouraged big businesses. Furthermore, in the 1924 presidential election as a candidate of the Progressive Party, I received an astounding sixth of the total vote (approximately five million votes). And that’s why they call me “Fightin’ Bob.” Wilson: Hey, shut it! My views are more important than both of yours anyway, considering the fact that I was 28th president of the United States of America. My goal as President was to share the wealth with all Americans and not horde it with a select amount of men. As president I oversaw the implementing of several acts whose purpose was to create a more stable economy, and allow for competitions among industries and corporations. For example, I implemented several anti-trust laws Including the Clayton Anti-Trust Laws which also gave workers the right to safely boycott and strike against big business. Also, in an effort to create a more stable economy, The Federal Reserve Act 1913 was created. This system helped deal with economic highs and lows for businesses by allowing them to take larger loans out of the bank to support their businesses. Also, to lower costs for goods and create better competition, I helped the implementing of the Underwood Tariff act which essentially cut the tariff rates from 41 to 27%. This was in fact similar the to the actions of my past conservative presidents, create a more open economy so other businesses can survive, even though, “a conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.” But as to the final verdict, I do hereby find Cornelius Vanderbilt guilty of crimes against human rights and unjust corporate actions. Vanderbilt (to all, as he storms out): I'll see every last one of you crazy reformers in prison!
Woodrow Wilson...........Milton Bradley
Ida Tarbell.....................Kristina Forsman
Cornelius Vanderbilt......Christopher Korte
Carrie Chapman Catt.....Sabah Islam
Robert La Follette..........Conor Hamill
Setting: In the courthouse, Tarbell is on trial for exposure of Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad industry
Wilson (judge): Today I have taken special interest in the case of Tarbell V Vanderbilt. I see here in my case notes that you Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt are accusing Ms. Ida Tarbell of brazenly exposing Vanderbilt's corporate tactics. Tarbell, will you please open with your statement.
Tarbell (on trial): You, Vanderbilt, have always been unfair, charging the common man more than you do the industrial leaders on the railroad rates. I have personally witnessed this happen to my father back in 1872 when shipping rates were doubled taking money away that my father was making. Rockefeller ruined my father and you are doing the same thing to other people now. I am determined to expose the corruption of your railroads. Others may believe that I am blowing this out of proportion, however, in truth; I am one of the few reformers focused upon important issues. Unlike other "muckrakers" like Upton Sinclair who care about the "meat-packing industry," I am concerned with economic matters affecting the entire country.
Vanderbilt (prosecutor): The railroad industry is my business. I built the industry from the ground up, investing all my effort into the corporation. What I chose to charge for my rates, and how I decide to run my corporation are completely, 100% my business. You "exposing" my tactics is a blatant demonstration of childish immaturity. Stay focused upon your own goals, and stop worrying about my industry. I choose to charge industrial leaders less due to the fact that they are a benefit to my business. My strategy to charge average men less than I do prominent individuals, aids my industry. And quite honestly, at the end of the day, that is what every knowledgeable, informed, intelligent businessman would look to do.
Tarbell: Watching my father deal with the rising rates with the railroads in the region which brought oil to the market made me realize that it's not all about the business that you're are making. It is my goal to expose the corruption found in companies like yours. In my book The History of the Standard Oil Company I exposed the methods of monopoly in the Standard Oil Company and led to its eventual breakup. Your tactics and goals are the same as those of Rockefeller and you need to be taken down. By exposing Rockefeller I helped lead to the downfall of him and I will do the same to you. Honest hardworking people like my father suffered because of Rockefeller and you are doing the same to the same kind of people now.
Vanderbilt: Though people may believe I'm much worse than Rockefeller because he contributed large sums of money to charities and institutions like the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller University, I am, in the end, looking out for myself and my industry, as intelligent business owners do. I will do what is best for my particular business, and I will do whatever it takes to keep my business running. "Law! What do I care about the law? Ain't I got the power?"
Tarbell: I myself was very successful with the writing of my book The History of the Standard Oil Company. I got started in my writing career after graduating as the only woman in my class from Allegheny College. I worked for Chautauqua Assembly Herald and later continued my work in France researching and writing about Madame Manon Philpon de Roland when I was asked by Samuel McClure to come work for McClure's Magazine. This is where I first got started working on The History of the Standard Oil Company. As I stated in my book, "There is no man more dangerous, in a position of power, than he who refuses to accept as a working truth the idea that all man does should make for the rightness and soundness, that even the fixing of a tariff rate must be normal." This applies to you Vanderbilt and your outrageous and unfair rates on the railroads.
Wilson: If it were my decision now Cornelius, you would be locked up for life for disregarding natural human rights as a worker and cheating the country's economy out of the competitive atmosphere. For as i stated previously stated in my book, The New Freedom, “If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it. The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” But before I make my decision, i want to here from our fine jury, made up of only Carrie Chapman Catt and Robert M La Follette.
Catt (to Follette-part of the jury): Both perspectives are clearly understandable. Tarbell is upset due to Vanderbilt's rates which favor industrial leaders like Carnegie and Rockefeller, while stripping money and justice of the average man.
Follette (to Catt-part of the jury): Then you're siding with Tarbell?
Catt (to Follette): With experiences I've gained from the National American Woman Suffrage Association, I understand the difficulties encountered by an individual when they are focused on achieving change. I mean, after all, I've spent twenty-five years fighting for an amendment to the Constitution, granting women suffrage. Though Vanderbilt believes so, I do not believe Tarbell's efforts for reform are that absurd. By exposing Vanderbilt's unfair tactics, she is simply bringing truth to light. I, like Tarbell, simply want my ideas to be heard, and as a pacifist, I personally chose to explore women's labor and political issues through my column "The Woman's World" in the Mason City Republican.
Follette (to Catt): So you've spent time as a writer, then?
Catt (to Follette): Yes, but shortly after writing in the Mason City Republican, I decided to move to San Francisco where I was inspired to become a public lecturer. I then moved back to Iowa, becoming head of the suffrage area of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. However, inevitably, the organization began to split, and in 1889 I became secretary of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association. The next year, I was chosen a delegate and speaker at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. My efforts finally paid off when Colorado boldly became the first state, by vote, to grant women's suffrage in 1893.
Follette (to Catt): Wow, I must admit, that is quite impressive Mrs. Catt. I also understand why Vanderbilt is so upset, but his tactics are completely in violation of what this country stands for. "Today the business once transacted by individuals in every community is in the control of corporations, and many of the men who once conducted an independent business are gathered into the organization, and all personal identity and all individualities lost..."
Catt (to Follette): Exactly, I agree. By charging the common man higher, unfair rates, we are undermining exactly the democratic standards of liberty and justice to all, that this country was built upon. "Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchasable voice in government."
Catt (to Follette, getting carried away): I do also understand the difference between a respectful reformist and a barbaric, vulgar reformist. In my efforts for reform, I am a complete pacifist, going to great extents to maintain peace. However, other suffragists, like Alice Paul, take extremely radical approaches by forming new organizations like the National Woman's Party who utilized unrefined tactics such as picketing, suffrage watch fires, and even hunger strikes, hoping to gain women's suffrage, state by state. By adopting such radical tactics, Paul simply alienated the public and caused the suffragist movement more harm than she did it benefit. Compared to Paul, I focused on congressional passage of an amendment for the right to vote. By concentrating on the federal government and pushing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, instead of slowly gaining favor state by state, my efforts are, quite evidently, much more effective.
Follette (to Catt): Yes, I see how you differ from Paul, a reformer in your area. However, I am similar to Theodore Roosevelt in that his reforms were all done on the political level. It is plain to see that politics are more widely appreciated, for whatever viewpoints that politician holds. For that reason, I, like Roosevelt, a politician, appeal to the public about my view and persuade them to see what is truly right. By using my political standpoints, as governor, as senator, the district attorney, and even as a presidential candidate for the progressive reform party, I was able to send out my message clearly and efficiently. As county district attorney of Wisconsin from 1901-1906, and as part of the United States Senate for eighteen years, I looked to sponsor bills that focused upon restriction of the railroad companies. In addition, during that time, I became founder of the La Follette's Weekly to broaden my reform movement and demonstrate my extreme Republican opposition to William Howard Taft's policies which encouraged big businesses. Furthermore, in the 1924 presidential election as a candidate of the Progressive Party, I received an astounding sixth of the total vote (approximately five million votes). And that’s why they call me “Fightin’ Bob.”
Wilson: Hey, shut it! My views are more important than both of yours anyway, considering the fact that I was 28th president of the United States of America. My goal as President was to share the wealth with all Americans and not horde it with a select amount of men. As president I oversaw the implementing of several acts whose purpose was to create a more stable economy, and allow for competitions among industries and corporations. For example, I implemented several anti-trust laws Including the Clayton Anti-Trust Laws which also gave workers the right to safely boycott and strike against big business. Also, in an effort to create a more stable economy, The Federal Reserve Act 1913 was created. This system helped deal with economic highs and lows for businesses by allowing them to take larger loans out of the bank to support their businesses. Also, to lower costs for goods and create better competition, I helped the implementing of the Underwood Tariff act which essentially cut the tariff rates from 41 to 27%. This was in fact similar the to the actions of my past conservative presidents, create a more open economy so other businesses can survive, even though, “a conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.” But as to the final verdict, I do hereby find Cornelius Vanderbilt guilty of crimes against human rights and unjust corporate actions.
Vanderbilt (to all, as he storms out): I'll see every last one of you crazy reformers in prison!